When you think of the resolutions that usually end up on people’s lists for the new year—losing weight, exercising more, improving relationships, getting a promotion or a better job—it’s probably not often that you hear “sleep better” included. And that’s really a shame, because the health benefits of sleep are so crucial to our success in all different areas of life. What many don’t know is that consistently healthy sleep can actually help them achieve all of these different resolutions.

Over a quarter of Americans reportedly work the night shift—a significantly higher amount than most European nations. This means it’s very likely that you or someone you know works throughout the night, catching sleep during the day when everyone else is up and at ‘em.

Night shift workers obviously don’t choose this schedule because they hate sleeping at night when most others do, but rather because it fits their life’s schedule, or it provides certain benefits, or simply because overnight work is part of the nature of their chosen profession, such as it is for many positions in the healthcare field.

While shift work obviously has some negative effects on your sleep, we’re not here to tell shift workers to go in tomorrow and quit. Rather, if

There are a number of questions that an interviewer typically asks a potential candidate for a position.

“What relevant experience do you have?”

“Do you work better collaboratively or on your own?”

“What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?"

An increasing amount of data indicates that it would behoove hiring managers to add another question to their standard list: how well do you sleep?

At first glance, it may not seem as relevant as a question about their skill set or a gap in their resume. But when it comes to the quality of work that employers can expect day in and day out, sleep quality matters. A lot.

A Recipe for Disaster

On the extreme end of things, the consequences of sleep deprivation can be seen in the nuclear disasters at